TOTAL GUIDE: 1420 With XP!!!

lightflux · 08-02-2007, 04:54 AM

Hello everybody. I have gone through quite a bit trying to install Windows XP on my Inspiron 1420. But, after much research and time, I am writing this guide below that should hopefully get you up and running with a brand new clean installation of Windows XP in under 2 hours (and most of that time will be burning something to a cd, letting windows install, and letting drivers install).

Here is a step-by-step guide:

PART I: CREATING A NEW WINDOWS XP DISK with SATA Drivers

-Download nLite from
http://www.nliteos.com/

-Insert your Windows XP disk into your computer. Start up nLite. Now, do the following:

a. Select your Language (English for me), then click "Next."

b. Click Browse for "Locating the Windows Installation" and select your CD-Drive with the Windows XP cd in it (for me this is D:\). Then it should ask you where to save the files onto your computer, so just browse to the Desktop and create a folder called "XPCD." nLite should proceed to copy the files into this folder. After this is done, click "Next."

***c. You may at this point see something showing you available presets. If you come to this screen, just ignore the presets and click "Next."

d. Now, we need to download the actual SATA drivers for the Inspiron 1420 to work in native AHCI mode (if you didn't understand this sentence just read on). Download the SATA drivers from here: http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=205611

e. Extract the SATA drivers from the download (double click the icon) into a folder on the Desktop once again (I created a folder called SATA on the desktop for these files).

f. Now, go back to nLite. Next to "Integrate," select "Drivers." Next to "Create" select "Bootable ISO." Unless you know what you're doing, ignore the rest of the options. Click "Next."

g. Now we are on the "Drivers" page of nLite. Click "Insert" and choose "Multiple driver folder." Now go find that folder to which you extracted the SATA drivers (for me this folder is called "SATA" and is located on my desktop). In the pop-up that immediately follows, click the driver path again and select "OK." Now, choose "Textmode driver" and highlight the following line: "SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E/M)" (pay careful attention to this!!!). Then click "OK." Then, click "Next."

h. You should get a pop-up saying "Apply changes?" Select "Yes." After this is done, click "Next." Now is the time to get out a blank CD. Remove your Windows XP disk and put in the blank CD. Go back to nLite now. Under "Mode" select "Direct Burn." Choose a Label for the CD (I just called it "XPSP2") and choose a burn speed. Then click "Burn" and say "Yes" to the pop-up.

i. Click "Next" again and exit (click "Finish") out of the program. Viola, we have our XP cd slipstreamed with the SATA driver so we can install directly onto the Inspiron 1420 with AHCI mode!!!

PART II: Installing XP and the Drivers

Okay, now that we have the actual disk, we are half-way through!

a. Insert the disk into your machine and follow the installation instructions for Windows XP, putting in whatever information you need to along the way. Once this is done, proceed to the next step.

b. Now, we need to install our drivers. For best results, just install the drivers in the following order, and DO NOT RESTART THE COMPUTER until I tell you to:

1. Intel Mobile Chipset
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=205326

2. Ricoh Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=188377

3. Broadcom Ethernet Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=207055

4. Intel Wi-Fi Driver (after downloading unzip and install)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/conf...stems&lang=eng

5. Bluetooth Driver (if you have bluetooth integrated into your computer)
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R127314.EXE

6. Nvidia 8400GS Driver (if you have the dedicated graphics card option)
http://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R158222.EXE

7. Touchpad Driver
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=207700

8. Webcam Driver (if you have the integrated webcam)
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...up&file=206853

9. SIGMATEL AUDIO Driver

Okay now...this part is a little tricky but not really THAT hard. You just have to follow my directions EXACTLY to make this work.

Download and install it from
http://ftp.us.dell.com/audio/R158235.EXE
(DO NOT DELETE IT, keep it even after installing)

Now at this point, after installing all of the above, you should reinstall the computer. After your computer reboots, you WILL get an error saying that the sigmatel audio driver failed to install because you don't have the proper hardware (or something to that extent). This is OKAY!!! Proceed to the next step.

c. Okay, so what we need to do now, assuming that you followed all of the instructions so far, is go into the Device Manager (right click on properties on My Computer and go into the Hardware tab). Here, what you need to do is look for the one PCI device with a question mark next to it. It should say Unidentified PCI device or something close to that. What you want to do is right click on it and select "Uninstall." After doing that, right click again on the PCI devices and select "Scan for hardware changes." Now, your integrated audio along with the modem speaker will be detected, and so you should choose the automatically install driver option when prompted. After all of this is done, it will STILL FAIL. That's okay...now what we need to do is just reinstall the SIGMATEL audio driver once more! Go ahead and do that...and this time viola our audio will be detected and the driver will finally install!!! The only thing that WILL NOT work is the modem speaker if you are using a dial-up connection...but in today's world I'm surprised Dell even put a modem in this computer instead of giving us a gigabit ethernet...but that's besides the point.

***EDIT*** WE HAVE THE MODEM DRIVER UP AND WORKING PERFECTLY AS WELL!!!

Download the driver from:

http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=195675

That should take care of that

***END OF EDIT***

d. THERE YOU GO! You are all done, you have all the drivers up and working!!! Make sure you update your windows with all the patches and fixes...

Hope all of the above has helped greatly, as it sure has taken up quite a bit of time to write

***EDIT THE MEMORY CARD READER DOES WORK!!! I had some weird error...I just reinstalled windows again and it fixed itself***

Datamonkey · 08-02-2007, 06:03 AM

Nice one matey,

This should work on the 1500's and 1700's i would imagine.

Their the same hardware right?

Will bookmark and try on my 1700 when it arrives.

Cheers

lightflux · 08-02-2007, 06:12 AM

Yeah actually this guide should work on those models as well, I would double check a couple of the drivers (for example the video driver since they offer the 8600gt on those models).

Sredni Vashtar · 08-02-2007, 08:07 AM

Nice guide. Expecially because you list the drivers locations. It's always boring having to go through the manufacturers websites to look for the appropriate drivers.

Thanks, yourRep:=yourRep+1

deadsimple · 08-02-2007, 08:09 AM

Does closing and opening the lid cause XP to gracefully hibernate and resume without any side-effects?

brianj320 · 08-02-2007, 08:24 AM

you did a top-notch job on this guide. i dont have a use for it but if i ever need it, i know where to find it now. great job, keep up the good work!

Repped!

veevek · 08-02-2007, 10:11 AM

Thanks a lot!
I can't wait to get my 1420 and wipe out any traces of Vista on it!

Ideally i want XP and Linux (RH/Ubuntu) on it. Would i need some software like Partition magic to create partitions, for this?

lightflux · 08-02-2007, 03:09 PM

In response to comments so far:

-Does closing the lid work?

Yes it does work, it works perfectly

-Do you need partition magic for XP and Ubuntu?

No you do not need partition magic. When you are installing XP, just erase all of the partitions initially present and create two new ones, one for XP and one for Ubuntu. However, I must warn you that Ubuntu driver support on the 1420 is not great at the moment (I've tried it). So, my solution is just to have one huge windows partition and run VMware on XP (you can get VMware server for free).

vxt · 08-02-2007, 04:25 PM

Great job!

d3sdichad0 · 08-02-2007, 04:40 PM

wow nice!, but will this guide work with a vostro 1400? (all the drivers are the same?) or we must change/add something with the vostro?